


All Over the Road

by noblydonedonnanoble



Category: Doctor Who RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-26
Updated: 2013-07-26
Packaged: 2017-12-21 09:07:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/898470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblydonedonnanoble/pseuds/noblydonedonnanoble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Catherine accidentally drank some vodka-spiked cranberry juice, and David takes it upon himself to make sure she gets home safely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Over the Road

                "I don't see why you insisted on my leaving," Catherine declares. By this point, she's said it approximately eight times—first, as they stood in the midst of the Christmas party, and then sporadically once he had made the decision to lead her outside to his car. "And I _really_ don't see why you need to take me home. I think I can handle a cab."

                He opens the passenger side door for her. She attempts to give him a look of exasperation, but given the circumstances, it falls flat. Despite her insistence that she doesn't want a ride home, she allows him to guide her into the car. Were it not for his attentive eye, she would have banged her head on the doorframe, but he halts her just in time and makes sure that she ends up seated, and with no collisions on her way. Once she's buckled herself in, he leans on the frame and looks down at her. "Nonsense. When's the last time you drank, Catherine?"

                She frowns, evidently distraught at her inability to recall the exact date. "I can't remember."

                "There you are, then. Someone's got to make sure that you get home alright under these unusual circumstances. And I've claimed the responsibility." With that, he closes the door and strolls around to the driver's side, getting in himself. "Now, would you like to go straight home or is there anywhere else you need to go first?"

                For a few moments, Catherine contemplates the situation. "We can go home, I think. Can we take the scenic route, though?"

                He chuckles. "I'm not sure if there even is a scenic route, but if you like, alright."

                "At Christmas, everything is scenic," she says with a smile.

                David allows himself a glance in her direction, just long enough so that he can smile back. Not a patronizing smile, either, although he wonders if she thinks it is.

                The streets are fairly deserted, because they're caught in the lull between people arriving at parties and leaving them. As she requested, David more wanders than makes his way to her flat, and for quite a few minutes, they sit in a companionable silence. He takes a moment to wonder what goes on in the mind of a drunk Catherine. This is, after all, such a rare occurrence that perhaps someone should be taking notes while they have the opportunity.

                "Here's something I never got about that Agatha Christie episode," she says after a while. Although he keeps his eyes on the road, David frowns slightly, but says nothing as she continues. "When Donna kissed the Doctor, why was it such a big shock?"

                And that was _not_ the sort of question that he was expecting. He braves another glance her way,  and she is looking at him with earnest eyes, earnest eyes attempting to assure him that her question is more innocent than it sounds. "I… I don't know. Why, do you think—"

                "Well, I've always assumed they actually fancied each other."

                David's eyes widen. He stares persistently at the road, at the nonexistent traffic, and he can't decide whether it's time to turn the car in the direction of Catherine's flat or whether he should continue driving aimlessly. Instead of making up his mind, he begins to drive around the block. "I thought the whole point was that they _don't_ fancy each other."

                "It's like Shakespeare said, though: 'Methinks they doth protest too much.' Or something."

                "Actually, it's, 'The lady doth…' Oh, never mind." He clears his throat and looks at her with a grin. "Perhaps they protest just enough."

                Catherine shakes her head. "Nah. Look at the way they look at each other."

                And that gets him. David stops circling the block and starts off in the direction of her flat. Thus far, she has done and said nothing that she would regret in the morning, and he intends to make sure that it stays that way.

                "I don't think so, Catherine. I think that they're mates, is all. They're very fond of each other, is all."

                "Then where are those looks coming from?"

                A shiver runs down his spine. He's so stuck on figuring out the proper response that he almost runs through a light as it changes from yellow to red, and only just slams on the brake in time. He doesn't look at Catherine as he mumbles, "That's the vodka talking."

                "It's the vodka saying what I've been too scared to say for a while." Her right hand comes to rest on his thigh as she looks at him with those same earnest eyes.

                David looks at her and takes a deep breath, and after a moment's thought, he decides to try to break the tension with a joke. "What, the great Catherine Tate is actually scared?" A poor joke.

                She scowls. But then, she does something that he does not expect (or perhaps that he's expected the whole time, although he doesn't realize it). With her other hand, she grabs his shirt front and pulls him into a kiss.

                For just a few moments, David actually gets lost in the kiss. When they shot that scene—the scene which Catherine apparently finds out-of-character due to the characters' supposed deep-seeded attraction for each other—he had mused that perhaps it would be nice, to have a more open-ended occasion to kiss Catherine. And so he loses himself, in the feel of her lips pressed against his own and in the strong taste of cranberry juice that still lingers.

                And then a horn honks loudly behind them. He pulls away in the span of a second, eyes wide and jaw slack and he has to take a second to process their surroundings. In car, at traffic light, which has turned. It figures that the only other person who's on the road would end up behind them at this moment. They've honked again. Although he's immensely flustered, he uses what's left of his wits to drive on. The car behind them turns, and they are alone once more.

                "Right," he says. "Sorry about that."

                Catherine laughs. "Are you really saying sorry? I'm the one who snogged you, if you'll remember. And actually, I've quite a mind to do it again."

                "This is definitely the vodka," he mutters.

                For the sake of something to cling to, he fixes his gaze on the road once more. They sit in relative silence for a minute or so, after which point David begins to think that perhaps she's come to her senses, at least enough to realize what she's doing and to stop.

                It becomes evident that this is not the case when Catherine unbuckles her seatbelt. He chances a glance at her, says, "What're you—"

                This time, they are not stopped at a light, and he swerves halfway onto the other side of the road when she starts snogging him again. She's aware of this, and actually has the gall to giggle into his mouth. David, on the other hand, remains in control of enough of his faculties that he can push her away, an action that is accompanied by a breathless, "Are you out of your mind?"

                "No. But I'm drunk, and I don't think there's much difference."

                It doesn't matter that he's doing his best to stare at the road, because now her mouth is on his neck.

                David's breath hitches in his throat. "Catherine, you're not thinking straight."  

                She leans back, but her lips can't be more than an inch from his jaw and he can feel her breath across his skin. "Actually, my train of thought is quite linear."

                "Is it?" Anything to keep her talking and save his driving before he gets pulled over.

                "Yes. I'm plotting a line of events that will get you into my flat and in bed with me tonight." Catherine leaves a ghost of a kiss on his jaw. "If you'll have me, that is." Her hand inches up his leg as she begins to kiss his neck once again.

                "If it weren't for that drink, you wouldn't be doing this," David breathes. He's got no idea, anymore, where they are; unbeknownst to him, they've been driving in a circle for the past two minutes.

                "Then thank heavens for that drink."Catherine smiles against his throat. Before he's aware of what's happening, she's undone his jeans. She does not put her hand in his pants, but she brushes her hand ever so slightly against his cock through the fabric.

                Even the minimal contact is enough for David to make the car swerve dramatically once again, and it is with renewed vigor that he focuses his attention on getting Catherine home safely where she belongs. Away from him, where she belongs. Before he does something that he will undoubtedly regret.

                He takes a hand off the wheel and grabs her wrist, attempting to pull her hand gently away. "Catherine…"

                "What? You can't pretend that you don't appreciate it." She has stopped kissing him again, has pulled away.

                David flushes and glances at her in his peripheral vision. Her smile is teasing, but her eyes reveal some hurt. With some hesitation, he says, "I'm not going to pretend. I just… I don't want you to do anything that you wouldn't do if you weren't… inebriated."

                "Have you not been listening?" In an instant, Catherine regains her confidence. She kisses his temple. "I've wanted this for quite some time." As she speaks, she peppers kisses down his cheekbone, and eventually arrives at his mouth. Once she reaches it, however, she misses and only catches the corner. David is disappointed by this, a fact which does not go unnoticed by Catherine.

                "And what makes you so certain I feel the same way about you?"

                They are stopped at another light. David takes the moment to look at the street signs, and sees that they're only four blocks away from her flat. He mentally rejoices, because he's uncertain how much more of this he could possibly handle.

                "Well, if you didn't then by now you would've said." Catherine kisses his lips again. "You want to hear what I think?"

                "Do I?"

                Catherine giggles and sits up on her knees in her seat, so that David's eyes are level with her throat. She places one hand on his chin and tilts his head up so that he's gazing into her eyes. "I think you _do_ fancy me."

                From the corner of his eye, David sees the light change, and he drives on. Catherine's hand drops from his chin, begins to slide ever so slowly down the middle of his chest. "You would have pulled over to the side of the road almost as soon as I first snogged you, except…" This time, she palms him through his jeans, but it does very little to minimize the shiver that runs through David as he suppresses the urge to groan. "Except there's a _chance_ that tomorrow morning I'll wake up and blame it on the vodka. Just a chance, is all." Her voice drops down to a whisper. "And that chance has scared you out of your senses."

                Her mouth goes back to his neck just as her hand finds its way into his pants.

                The only reason that David doesn't slam his foot on the brake is that he knows that she isn't buckled in, and he doesn't want her to go flying. That being said, he parks in front of her building as quickly as he can manage, and turns it off, breathing heavily. Quite reluctantly, he pulls her hand out of his pants, and entwines their fingers together. Catherine begins to protest, but before she can get too far, he turns his head and uses his other hand to guide her into a kiss. He takes his time to savor this one, this kiss that was not initiated in a drunken stupor—because regardless of how much she insists otherwise, this would not be happening if Catherine were not drunk. He presses his tongue into her mouth and he feels as if she's stealing his breath away.

                Except, of course, she first did that quite some time ago.

                But when he pulls back, Catherine is the one who looks breathless, and he uses her silence and takes the opportunity to say, "Call me tomorrow, and then we can talk. Properly." _Without your hands wandering into my pants while I'm driving_ , he thinks.

                She nods vaguely, and he takes that as enough of an agreement that he gets out of the car and goes around to her side to open the door.

                "You're too much of a gentleman," Catherine declares. Despite that, she takes his hand and allows him to help her out of the car. Instead of walking toward the entrance of her building, however, she leans against his car and scrutinizes him. "I was bluffing, you know. I don't have the confidence to be _that_ forward without a bit of help."

                David goes to stand beside her, a hair's breadth of space between them. "I know. I…" He runs a hand through his hair and pauses for what feels like an eternity as he decides whether he should continue. "I liked it, though. For the most part. When I didn't think we were going to crash."

                She giggles, and the two of them look at each other, grins on their faces.

                Their thoughts race.

                "Oh, fuck it." David grabs her hand and pulls her in the direction of her building at a run. When they've almost reached the door, he jolts to a stop and turns to look back at the car. "That has got to be the worst parking job in the history of the universe."

                Catherine tugs on his hand. "You can worry about that tomorrow."

                It is only when they have boarded the elevator that she chooses to add, "I'm surprised you managed, under the circumstances."


End file.
